ENGL 292 TERMS

Edwardian period

The era of British history during King Edward VII’s reign, marked by optimism, technological progress, and the decline of Victorian rigidity, but also social inequality and impending WWI.

Modernest era

A movement in literature and art characterized by experimentation, fragmentation, and a break from traditional forms, reflecting disillusionment after WWI.

High Modernism

The peak of Modernism, featuring radical experimentation (e.g., Joyce, Woolf, Eliot, Pound).

Postmodern Age

Rejects grand narratives, embraces irony, pastiche, and relativism; questions objective truth (e.g., Borges, Pynchon).

Postcolonial era

Literature and theory addressing the effects of colonialism, cultural identity, and resistance (e.g., Said, Achebe).

Traditional realism

19th-century narrative style focused on detailed, objective representation of everyday life (e.g., Dickens, Tolstoy).

Materialists

Writers (like some realists) who emphasize physical and social reality over introspection or spirituality.

Impressionism

A style capturing fleeting impressions/subjective perceptions (e.g., Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway).

Expressionism

Distorting reality to express inner emotions (common in drama and visual arts).

Freudianism

Influence of Freud’s psychoanalysis (unconscious, repression, Oedipus complex) on literature.

Jungian archetypes

Universal symbols/themes (e.g., the Hero, Shadow) from Carl Jung’s collective unconscious theory.

Secularism

Separation of religion from public life; decline of religious influence in literature.

Post-Christian morality

Ethical frameworks no longer rooted in Christian doctrine.

Existentialism

Philosophy emphasizing individual freedom, choice, and meaning-making (e.g., Sartre, Camus).

Nihilism

Rejection of meaning, morality, or purpose (e.g., Waiting for Godot).

Nationalism

Ideology prioritizing national identity, often critiqued in postcolonial literature.

Philistinism

Disdain for intellectual/artistic culture; anti-intellectualism.

Cosmopolitanism

Embracing global cultures over national identity.

Expatriate writers

Authors living abroad (e.g., Hemingway in Paris, Eliot in London).

Modernist despair

Pessimism about modernity, war, and alienation.

Postmodern irony

Playful, self-aware skepticism toward grand narratives.

Experimental form

Breaking conventions in structure, narrative, or style.

Sprung rhythm

Gerard Manley Hopkins’ irregular poetic meter mimicking natural speech.

Inscape

Hopkins’ term for the unique inner essence of things captured in poetry.

Interior monologue

A character’s unfiltered thoughts in narrative (e.g., Joyce’s Ulysses).

Stream of consciousness

Continuous flow of thoughts without logical structure.

In medias res

Starting a story in the middle of action (e.g., The Odyssey).

The unities (classical)

Aristotle’s rules for drama: unity of time, place, and action.

Diurnal novel

A story taking place within a single day (e.g., Mrs. Dalloway).

Non-linear plot

Disordered timeline (e.g., Slaughterhouse-Five).

Abstraction/obscurity

Deliberate complexity or ambiguity (e.g., The Waste Land).

The anti-hero

A flawed, non-traditional protagonist (e.g., Holden Caulfield).

Emasculated characters

Men stripped of traditional power (e.g., The Waste Land’s Fisher King).

Isolation vs. connection

Modernist theme of alienation vs. human bonds.

Progress vs. decline

Debate over whether society improves or deteriorates.

Determinism vs. free will

Fate vs. individual agency (e.g., 1984 vs. existentialism).

Subjectivity vs. objectivity

Personal perception vs. external reality.

Depersonalization

Removing the author’s presence (Eliot’s impersonal theory of poetry).

Objective correlative

Eliot’s idea: objects/events evoke specific emotions.

Epiphany

A sudden moment of insight (e.g., Joyce’s Dubliners).

Irish Renaissance

Late 19th/early 20th-c. Irish cultural revival (Yeats, Synge).

Bloomsbury Group

Intellectual circle including Woolf, Forster, Keynes.

Animal fable

Allegorical tales with animals (e.g., Animal Farm).

Allegory

Symbolic narrative with hidden meaning (e.g., The Faerie Queene).

Dystopian fiction

Dark futures critiquing society (e.g., Brave New World).

Soviet Communism

Political system Orwell critiqued in Animal Farm.

Orwellian

Totalitarian surveillance/manipulation (from 1984).

Big Brother

1984’s omnipresent dictator.

Thought Police

1984’s enforcers of ideological conformity.

Postwar austerity

Economic/cultural scarcity after WWII.

“The Movement” poets

1950s British poets (e.g., Larkin) rejecting modernism.

Neo-romanticism

Post-WWII return to emotion/nature (e.g., Dylan Thomas).

Obscenity/blasphemy laws

Censorship battles (e.g., Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial).

White Man’s burden

Imperialist justification for colonizing “inferior” races (Kipling).

Colonialism/imperialism

Domination of territories by foreign powers.

Postcolonialism

Study of colonialism’s cultural/political aftermath.

Little Englandism

– Nostalgia for a pre-imperial, homogenous England.

Cultural imperialism

– Dominance of one culture over others.

Racism/xenophobia

– Central themes in postcolonial critiques.

Multiculturalism

– Coexistence of diverse cultures.

Windrush generation

– Caribbean migrants to UK post-WWII.

The Commonwealth

– Former British Empire nations maintaining ties.

Anglophone literature

– English-language works from former colonies.

Devolution of UK

– Transfer of power to Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland.

Diaspora

– Dispersed populations (e.g., African, Indian diasporas).

Hybridity

– Mixing of cultures/languages (Bhabha’s theory).

Fatwa

– Religious edict (e.g., against Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses).

“The Empire Writes Back”

– Postcolonial literature challenging imperial narratives

Booker Prize

– Prestigious UK literary award.

Things Fall Apart

– Achebe’s novel on colonialism’s impact in Nigeria.

Apocalypse Now

– Vietnam War film adapting Heart of Darkness.

The Hours

– Cunningham’s novel reimagining Mrs. Dalloway.